Drawn and Fragmented
by Rionarch
Summary: AU; Not a single child worried about the ramifications of giving up thier crest for the Digiworld. Now, the Emperor is angrier then before and Davis, Yolie, and Cody wish they knew who came before them. After the crests and after diaboromon, pre 02
1. The Code's Broken

AN: Everybody has something that was their first true obsession. Mine was Digimon, specifically Adventure, Season One. This is an AU story that breaks off after the kids give their crests back to the digiworld, so pre- 02. However, most of this story will take place during 02 and feature the families towards the beginning. I doubt the Hiroki and Cody's dad thing will be in this though. It just came out of left field to me. And speaking of Cody, I will be using the American names. Why? Cause Tai, Matt, Joe, Izzy, T.K., and Kari are not that bad of translations. Daisuke made a smooth transition to Davis but Miyako and Iori not so much. Also, I play a little bit with the timing of things, especially with Ken. Finally, because digimon is fairly visual, my deviantart will have all the forms there. Enjoy.

--

Drawn and Fragmented

Chapter One: The Code's Broken

--

For the Digidestined it seemed as if nothing was going right. They had all just come back a few weeks ago from giving up their crests to help the digiworld, but their partners lost a part of themselves in the process. Tai couldn't help but feel upset for Augumon. His buddy said it was fine but he knew that it wasn't. Things had just gone downhill from there. Sora quit football and started playing tennis cause it made her mom happier. Tennis was a lot safer then football, and Sora was just happy she was still allowed to play sports. Her mom decided that the digiworld brought enough danger- why add more. Joe's been working insanely to get into a good high school and his dad isn't helping the burden any more. After a summer together, Matt and T.K. were being separated again, thanks to their parents. T.K's ferry probably left not too long ago.

Even worse then a bay, Mimi found out that she was moving to America by August. It looked as if Izzy and himself were the only ones with normal parents. It was amazing. They could defeat the ultimate evil of the digiworld, but their parents could break them apart like no one else could. Kari was another story all together. She was getting weak and sick after giving back the crest and it worried Tai like nothing else.

"Tai! Tai! Pass it!" Tai grinned and smoothly passed the ball to another nine year old he knew. Davis Motimiya was on his junior soccer team, the last year he was able to play before going into the intermediate level one for school. He was already in advanced club though, so it didn't matter if he got benched more this season.

"Yo Davis. Your early for practice."

"Yeah I can't wait! I was hoping that I'd get on to your team and I did. This practice is going to awesome. I'll show them how great I can be." Davis was a spiky little kid with a grin for a face. "Say, is Kari coming to the practice today?" He blushed a little and squawked when Tai messed up his hair.

"Oh so you want to see _Kari_! You're not getting a crush on my little sister are you?" Davis fussed around a little before they did some warm ups before the rest of the team got there. Half an hour later Tai's phone rang and gave the boys a much needed rest. While Davis gulped down one of his bottles of water, Tai spoke with the team's manager, apparently practice had been canceled and they'll call for the reschedule. Hanging up her looked over to Davis.

"Well it looks like you'll have to wait a while before you show us what you can do. Want to go get lunch? I'm starving." Davis looked thrilled. He was having lunch with his idol after a short football practice. What on earth could be better?

"Wait a minute. Let me see your cell phone." Davis gave him the new cellphone- as a present for getting onto the team his parents decided that he was responsible enough for one. His sister, Jun, already lost her second one. He watched as Tai used his orange phone to call the number in. Man, he had to get a skin like that.

"So where to for lunch?"

"Noodles! With out a doubt they're the best." Tai looked scared and a bit sad. He wondered if he scared the other kids like this when he was that age. As they headed down the street Davis looked at his contacts. Tai had put in three different ones, his cell, his house and a strange one. It had the weirdest number he had ever seen and it looked like it had a little orange sun next to it. Maybe a fax?

--

Kari sat calmly and watched the television from the waiting room at the hospital. She told her mom that she was big enough to go on her own now and there really wasn't anything mom needed to take time to come for. It was just the same check-ups she's had for most of her life. Only this time there was some blood work to go with it, but it was nothing she hadn't felt before. Usually the waiting room was empty but there was another boy her age and his mom waiting too. He seemed a little fussy.

"But mom, I don't' want the needle!"

"Ken, it'll be fine honey. Just a little prick and it'll all be over." Not a second past when the woman's phone rang.

"Oh sweetie, I need to take this call, but I'll be right back alright?" She left him there and went down the four floors to the parking lot- no cellphone calls in the building, but they could still be on. Ken looked a little sullen and afraid. She got up and sat next to him and smiled.

"Hi, my name is Kari. Whats yours?"

"Ken." He was even quieter then Matt on a moody day. She fiddled with the edge of her dress before looking at him again.

"It does hurt little, but after that it just feels weird. Afterwards your elbow'll hurt for a while and you may get a bruised but its nothing worse then a scraped knee."

"How would you know?" Ken looked at the smaller girl next to him who just looked too happy for her own good.

"I've had it done seven times already. This will be my eighth." Ken looked a little sheepish for snapping at her but she continued. "If you want you can come into the room with me. I don't mind at all." Okay, so maybe Kari didn't want to be alone in the doctor's room. She doesn't really like this place.

"Sure. Hey do you play any sports?" It was a weak icebreaker but it worked none the less. Apparently she enjoyed dancing but didn't do any sports herself but her older brother was a football player. They chatted for several minutes and Ken's mom still hadn't come back but soon the doctor called her in. After both of their blood was drawn he sat back down holding his elbow. His new friend took it much better then he did. He looked up and found her holding out an ice pop for him.

"I'm having a bad day too. My best friend just moved away just in time for summer."

"Ken I'm so sorry, did it hurt much?" His mom walked up to the kids and fussed over his elbow. Ken blushed and looked embarrassed while Kari only giggle.

"Mom! It's fine. I went with Kari and she's a pro at this."

"Really now? Well Kari, do you need someone to take you home or do you have a ride? We'd be more then happy to drop you off somewhere."

"Thank you 'mam but I've got to take a few more tests so I'll be here a while longer." She really didn't like the sympathetic looks adults gave her when she told them that. She wasn't going to faint on the spot. The only thing worse was when other kids were confused, like Ken was. Before he left with his mother he turned around quickly,

"Hey, can we exchange numbers?" He gave her his house phone number while she gave a cell phone and an odd number. It had a strange set of numbers and a pretty pink star next to it instead of a house or something. Probably some online girl journal or something.

--

Without a doubt, this was the most stupefying computer set up he had done over the past three months. In order to get store credit, he, Koushiro 'Izzy' Izumi, worked the computer maintenance and set up for the Pineapple brand computers. The owners were mostly local and college based, but it was good none the less and came with custom programing- if you could figure it out. A child he just used it to handle all the math work he did for fun, but now he had an all together different reason for needing all his stuff. The Digiworld. It was like a dream come true for him. It was tangible evidence that the networking between computers brought something to life and that the random glyphs of data could in fact spread on its own and go out of human hands. In years of searching he had yet to find the origin of the Digiworld. It had to be an old code, but not terribly. Until about two years ago, one minute in their world was like a year in the digiworld. Any thing from around 1987 onwards could equate to about 10,000 years in their world. It was mystifying. And a very expensive past time, one that he could not afford to cell out. Sure he hand simplified an entire website and created a new format but it was all on the course for the digiworld. Not a single person would know about his sort of genius except his friends but it would all be worth it if he could be with Tentomon again.

But in the Hida house he was setting up a simple computer. Only nothing that looked like technology had ever set foot in the place. He'd be surprised if they had a telephone. Apprently the eldest Hida was a kendo instructor and the daughter was the only cheerful person in the house. The young grandson, Cody, was at least three years younger then T.K. and Kari and twice as serious and moody. He kinda reminded Izzy of a mushroom animated, barely coming up to his hip and just staring at the screen. Izzy was putting up the finishing touches on everything and hooking up the internet via his laptop.

"Hey, do you want a screen name?" The little kid nodded with hesitance.

"Well what do you like?" He just stared blankly at him. This would be harder then anything. He wasn't a people person to being with, Tai and Mimi were much better at this sort of thing.

"Okay. Your screen name is KendoKid. The password is set to KendoKid as well but you can change that."

Cody looked at all the new stuff in the room and barely understood what the little purple weight next to one of the (many) names, numbers, and other built in contact information.

--

Even though she _knew_ she was acting bratty, Yolie didn't want to be anywhere near he sister right now. All she was talking about what her date with _Taka_, getting nice clothes for her date with _Taka_, and the perfect set of shoes to match. And Yolie had to get dragged along, only to be told to go wander by herself. She could have stayed home and watched a good drama! So here she was, a ten year old with dreams and goals, rotting away on mall bench next to a Mr. Feezie's ice-cream stand.

"Ugh! Excuse me, but can you tell me how people think that this is fashionable?!" Yolie looked up at very pretty girl with long brunette hair, cheerful eyes, and dressed way better then her sister. A bit crossed eyed, Yolie looked down at the magazine that was sort of shoved in her face and saw models dressed in a sort of grungy look.

"Umm...I don't know?" The girl sighed and dropped the magazine to her side before parading around with excessive hand gestures.

"I know! American's have such a horrible taste in fashion. Either its too bold or its so drab! Can you honestly believe that a black micro dress is a clothing staple in New York City? Oh, how rude of me. My name is Mimi Tachikawa, what's yours?"

"Yolie Inoue." Yolie really didn't know what to say to Mimi. It wasn't everyday someone that pretty or animated talked to her and her geeky friends. She liked clothes but it was kinda pointless to dress up for math, right?

"Whats so great about America anyway?" Mimi sat down next to Yolie and looked upset as she flipped threw her cell phone at all the names. The vast majority of them were girls names, but almost all of them were people she had called only once or twice. They were shopping pals for a day when she didn't' feel like going alone. As corny as it sounded, the Digidestined were her true, best, and closest friends. Kari was as cheerful as her and Sora had the same kind of confidence in herself, but most other girls their age were very..shallow. Like she had used to been. The American fashion magazine she bought was less for the fashions and more for a guide to a new life.

Here, she was Mimi Tachikawa- fashionable, friendly, and flighty. She didn't really know what she would be in America. Another foreigner with a bad accent who was too uppity? It just wasn't fair. Mimi looked over at the younger girl she had picked out of the crowed, Yolie apparently. She had no idea why at first the girl had appealed to her when she was fully aware that Sammy and her little group were right downstairs in the teen body piecing booth, but after a few seconds it clicked, and it wasn't just the dark hair that had a very natural purple sheen to it. Yolie carried herself like Sora, quiet but kind, but there was something so Izzy about her it wasn't even funny.

"Wow! They came out with the new 84 series of calculators!" Oh yes, it was a she-Izzy. It was her duty- Her duty! To get this girl to be the best she could be. And she only has less then 3 weeks to do it.

"Say, Yolie, what are you doing here all alone on a beautiful Saturday?" The girl bristled and started talking about her stupid older sister and ditching her for a date. Time to fix that. Without pausing Mimi took the girls cellphone and started entering in her number.

"Well Yolie, today we start a new you! Lets meet here every Saturday until October alright? Now lets go see what kind of clothes are right for you. You really shouldn't hide yourself in tee shirts and jeans- thats for boys." Thank god she got Sora to kick that habit.

Yolie, for her part, was stunned. It was like a manga she had read- the geeky girl gets a popular friend and a new life. It was almost surreal, but hey, who was she to stop it? She check Mimi's number to make sure it wasn't a joke, and found it and another strange number with a green water drop next to it instead.

All the while Mimi was holding up collared shirts for her all she could think was just how _cool_ and nice Mimi was, so much more relatable then her sister.

--

Yamato 'Matt' Ishida started dusting things in the spare room in his and his dad's apartment. Pretty much all of their parents knew about their involvement with the Digiworld, and they had accepted it well. Something only about half of them knew was that they were trying to find a way back. Only about five knew about the illegal computer equipment and emergency uplinks just incase another diaboramon incident happened. Izzy's parents, Tai and Kari's and his dad all knew. Izzy, Tai, and Kari didn't' have enough room but he did and his dad offered. Worse came to worse they could just say it was old stuff from the Tv station. Matt doubted anybody besides a genius or someone who had an idiots guide code could understand anything Izzy had rigged up with the help of Gennai.

The idiots guide was written by Tai and hours of explanation from Izzy. It went from:

"And the router is connected to the processing table, whose program is found on the start up disc three and the actual instillation is directed to folder three, whose password is prodigious3..." to, "The green cable goes to the green plug, and you need the green disc with the "3" on it, and open it in folder "3". The password is prodigious3"

They had spent five days colors coding thing. It was Tai proof and parent safe. Just incase anything happened. It was on these lazy days that he missed Gabumon the most. They'd just sit here in the air conditioning and take naps. There were still claw marks in the couch from Gabumon's spot. Matt looked at it before heading out the door. He would see his friend again and make it up to him. He felt kinda bad for T.K. and Kari because neither would allow them to cross the bay and there was a whole other city between them in transit. Matt got over needing to be alone to wallow in self pity a while ago, but he knew that the others were feeling just as bad as him. They needed their friends again, and even in the human world the Digidestined were being torn apart.

He strummed a few notes on his new(old) guitar and wondered how bad this would end. We got to digiworld because we were together. Are they separating us on purpose? His mother and Mimi's parents didn't mean for that...but Sora's mother... it seemed like she was destroying her life.

--

Joe and Sora sat in the little traditional café just a few blocks away from the flower shop her mother owns. Sora wondered how on earth her mother got her into the skirt and dress blouse for a "tea ceremony" befitting a young lady. In her own opinion, if she was thirteen she was at least able to choose what she could and could not do, not just dress up like a pretty little doll and play with flowers. Joe looked equally as uncomfortable in his dress clothes, but not because of the ceremony.

Like Sora's mother, Joe's family reeked that traditional sense and if they got wind that one of his best friends also had family in the same vain, well there would be a marriage certificate made in minutes- despite the laws against it.

"Hey Joe..." Sora looked really sad and Joe could help but feel sorry for her. Unlike everyone else she was practically being forced to be a different person.

"Yeah Sora?" She looked away into her tea cup that was supposed to have black tea in it- he suspected an energy drink.

"If we had the chance to go back to the Digiworld...for good you know, and stay there with Biyomon and Gommamon.. Would you take it?" It was really horrible seeing Sora like this. The holder of the Crest of Love was always so vibrant and ready to live but now her red eyes were so dulled it was as if he were looking at a rock instead of them. Had her life become to bad that she was contemplating running away forever?

"Without a doubt. The Digiworld needed us more, always wanted us more, and we have a deeper connection to it then this one. I mean come on, there will always be doctors and girls here, but we're the Digidestined. We're meant to do something there. Don't worry, like Kari said, we'll be back." Joe smiled as she watched Sora play with the flowers in front of her. Ikebana- the study of flower arrangements.

It was actually kind of nice, seeing Biyomon expressed with little flowers that can't compare.

--

Takeru looked around the crowded train station and wished he was at the airport- no offense to this Ken kid. His best friend Kari had sent him the name and e-mail of one of her newest friends and he seemed okay enough if only a bit shy almost shocked at attention. It was July 31 and Mimi was leaving for America in only three hours, not to mention that the very next day was their anniversary into the Digiworld. To make Mimi feel better they decided not to celebrate it until she could come to visit. Sucky parents strike again.

He had gotten off of the early train a few minutes ago and was looking for the kid, Ken. Apparently he wasn't allowed to leave the Shibuya district, so he and Kari were coming to visit him here. This would be their first real to real meeting but Kari and Ken had loads over the past few weeks. A pale hand tapped his shoulder and T.K. looked down (He loved his growth spurt!) And saw a very fidgety kid around his age.

"Takeru?" T.K. smiled and held out his hand.

"Hey you must be Ken. Yeah I'm Takeru, but you can just call me T.K., everybody does. Is Kari here yet?" Ken shook his head before gesturing to the eastern gates.

"Her ferry came in just a few minutes ago, so her train will be here in about five minutes. We should get over to the terminal." After that it was easy to talk to him. Once he opened up he _did_ act like a normal kid but there was still something wrong with how self consciencely he was acting. They stopped at Kari's gate and waited for it to pull in.

"Yeah...I've got an older brother too, Sam. He's a genius." If it was possible Ken became even more introverted. Well T.K. knew how to fix this!

"Oh that kid? Mom wrote something about him a while back but I still think my friend Izzy could run rings around him in math and stuff. Don't worry about your brother so much. Once you find out their weakness it's easy to annoy them. What about you? What kind of sports do you play?"

Kari came in on a conversation about whether the World Cup would be a bust or not. Mimi was write- no matter what age boys _can_ bond over sports. They went on a few minutes before Ken noticed her and blushed.

"Hello, good to see you again Hikari." Ken bowed a little while T.K. ran over and hugged the air out of her.

"Kari! Its been forever!"

"Nice to see both of you too. So where are we headed?" Here she and T.K. looked over to ken who knew his city better.

"Well there is a park just a few blocks away that we can go to."

"Sounds fine to me." All three of the nine year olds headed to the park with only one tangent- beginning with T.K. calling Ken Kari's boyfriend, and ending with Kari running away from an angry dog.

--

If Mimi ever wanted to regress into the spoilt, bratty child she was, it would have been right then and there. Eve if it only stalled the boarding for a few minutes.

It wasn't fair! All her friends and everything in her life was in Odaiba, Japan, not New York.

When her parents said that two of her friends could see her off, Mimi decided to not have any of them there. All seven of them were he closest friends, it would be cruel to pick just two of them.

It would have been her new friend? Yolie and Izzy. Definitely Izzy. He just made her laugh over the silliest things. Honestly, who cared about silicon drive processors? With unusual anger Mimi slammed her fist into the viewing area as her plane was opening its doors for them.

'Please. Don't take me from my friends!'

"Mimi honey, we have to leave now." Her mom sounded happy. They were always to happy and not worried about what this move was going to do to her. Sure she'd find new friends...but no one could ever replaced Tai, Sora, Joe, Matt, T.K., Kari, and Izzy. No, no one would _ever_ be able to replace Izzy.

"What? Is that...snow?" Snow. SNOW! Before her digivice even had a chance to sound off, Mimi pulled it off of her belt and held it in her hand. It started beeping rapidly and the screen glowed a light green that made everything else around her seem dull, grey, and lifeless. She knew she was going to press the "OK" button, but the option never appeared.

Mimi felt herself fall from the floor to to watching the rift between the two worlds.

--

"Hey Joe, look at this." Joe was having his lunch in summer school- it was never a good idea to fall behind, even if he was technically ahead of the game.

"What is it Kyle?" Something in Joe's stomach started to get queasy. That sort of Digiworld queasy. That sort of queasy that meant he had to fix something. That sort of queasy.

Maybe it was the sandwich.

"Dude, it's _snowing_."

Nope. Not the sandwich- the digiworld. It's never the sandwich. The Sandwich is innocent. In the back of his mind, Joe did hear his digivice activate itself. Kyle, his lab partner, just stared at the grey light coming from his belt.

A moment later wind rushed by taking Joe with it as he joined up with Mimi in falling.

--

At the Kamiya house, Tai, Matt, Sora, and Izzy just watched the snow falling in awe, before bum rushed the balcony door and incoherently babble.

"Is Biyomon hurt? Why would they call us so soon?"

"Outta my way Matt, Augumon might be around here."

"_They're in the digiworld stupid._ Now you move!"

"This is simply prodigious! This snow happening again nearly year later is simply baffling." The digivices going off couldn't compete with the kid's noise, so it can as a complete surprise when all four of them found themselves falling into the sky, much like their very first time.

Instead of dropping the glasses of food and screaming murder, Yuuko Kamiya smiled sadly before heading for the phone. If her hunch was correct they were all gone again, but who knows for how long?

'Toshiko is going to lose it this time. I don't think Satoe is going to take it well either.'

--

Like the nine year olds they were, the three of them had fun just hanging around the monkey bars and their new clubhouse in the slide. Ken wished he could visit Kari in Odaiba, like she always did for him, but his mom wouldn't let him go, even if Sam went with him.

"Well... our parents are a bit different Ken. They know that Kari and I promised that we'd stop each other from doing something stupid or dangerous." Takeru nodded and Kari finished it off for him. They couldn't exactly explain the digiworld to him yet and he might not even believe them.

"Plus, well we've known each other for a while now. Tai's friend Sora practically grew up with us and when we can we've slept over each other houses a lot. Maybe in a few weeks she'll let you." Kari tried to cheer Ken up a bit- he was nice but way too sad. Not that she could blame him. Two weeks ago she visited the Ichijouiji house and learned about. A lot about Sam. You could barely even notice Ken if she wasn't there for him alone.

"I guess." Takeru smiled again and walked up to Ken and held his hand.

"How about this- I promise to make sure you never do something incredibly dangerous or stupid. Now at least you _know_ at least one person will look after you." Takeru walked back to the slide and Kari's voice rumbled through the plastic walls, "Me too!". A little while loner past until ken felt something cold on his elbow.

"What is with the weather? Its snowing like last year" Ken sat on the monkey bares as T.K. and Kari came out of separate ends of the slide. Something on their belts was glowing and beeping.

"Why do you two have beepers?" His friends look at each other in a panic and ken gasped when he saw their feet disappearing like an eraser was rubbing them out.

"Ken-Ken, don't worry we'll be back as soon as we can!" They didn't sound scared at all! Just really concerned about him. But his feet and legs were still here.

"W-whats happening to you two?" Kari pulled out her beeper and showed it to him, a bright pink light was shining in his eyes.

"We're uh..well we're going back tot he digiworld. But we'll be back!" The light got really bright for a minute again and Ken saw that Kari and Takeru had literary disappeared and the snow stopped.

What just happened?

--

Joe was the first one to wake up on a somewhat familiar hard wood floor. Something was wrong though. He couldn't move his arms or his legs. Did he somehow paralyze himself?! Great! He lifted his head and screamed at what he saw.

They were all in Gennai's underwater house. Seven digimon surrounded him but he somehow knew that each one of them were his friends. Matt, who was closest to him, looked like a purple, blue, and yellow lizard-bear thing. Tai was obviously the blue and orange lizard with monkey limbs. Tai was in a pile with a fairly large bird, Sora, without a doubt, and a metal grasshopper, Izzy. On the other side of the table was a little seed with dozens of curled leaves around it reminding him of a chia pet. Finally he saw a pink and yellow slug with a shell curled next to mouse-rabbit thing. Kari and Takeru.

Joe realized, in that same part of him that the digiworld makes him queasy, that he was probably a digimon too. Trusting his body to work like it should he awkwardly curled up- a bit like snake- and saw that he had a pale body of scales and six little shrimp arms.

Oh _course_ he had to look like a shrimp mated with a Seadramon- his favorite Digimon in the whole wide worlds. At least he didn't need his glasses anymore, its always good to look to the positive in these situations; ha. Mimi's follow-up scream and subsequent reaction sent little twigs out from her leaves, hitting him right in the head, thunking it just enough make him fall backwards onto the floor with his belly up. He didn't think he would ever miss his rear before this occasion.

Gennai had better explain this thoroughly.

--

Davis was feeling a little mixed about how he felt about the soccer game. He started and scored the winning goal, along with four others, but Tai hadn't showed up for the game, pre-game practice, or their pre–pre- game practice! He was about to call tai and ask if he was alright when Mrs. Kamiya tapped him on the shoulder and hugged him.

"Oh you were so great out there Davis. Your practicing really paid off. I remember just a few months ago you were barely able to kick the ball straight and now... well you did great and you should be proud of that." Davis blushed so red that it clashed badly with every other bit of red that he was wearing.

"Uhh thanks Mrs. Kamiya, but do you know where Tai is? He was supposed to be a foreward today." Tai was so awesome that he could play any defense and offense well enough for their league. He looked up at Tai's mom and saw her smile and it looked a little weird.

"Tai and Kari for that matter, won't be around for a while. Their going to live with their grandparents for sometime and they had to leave urgently this morning. But Tai wanted _you_ to have _these_." Yuuko actually smiled at Davis' awed expression. When tai found out that his little football buddy was finally going to start game, he went out and got Davis a pair of green square goggles so he had his own.

"M-my own goggles?! Oh Man! Thank you, thank, thank you Mrs. Kamiya!"

"Just keeps those scores up. I'll be here cheering for you for them alright?" Davis nodded with enthusiasm before going to bother the older players about how Tai had gotten him goggles.

Yuuko couldn't understand why she had promised Davis that she'd cheer for him, but she was happy that she did. Something was nagging her that she'd see more of him then either of them expected.

--

Cody looked at the blank screen of the computer and called the number that the red haired kid gave him and put him mom on the phone. Not even a year into the computer and it had already felt the anger of a kendo stick.

"Mommy, when will the kid be over? I want to ask him something about a website." He seemed friendly enough and probably would answer his question.

"We're not getting the same repair man, Cody. Apprently he's taken an unexpected leave of absence. I'm sure who ever replaces him can answer your question just as well." His mommy turned away and back into the kitchen to fix him some lunch.

Cody sighed. He actually had liked older kid. He didn't try to water things down too much. Cody really didn't have a clue what a router was, but that didn't stop Izzy's explanation. Being treated like a little kid was so stupid.

And if the guy ruffled his hair and called him 'little tyke' he'd hit _him_ with the kendo stick too.

--

Yolie sat in the mall with her sister Chizu again, but this time her sister was asking _her_ why she was able to pick out such nice outfits. Three weeks in Mimi's Fashion Camp would do it.

She wanted to call her new friend so much, but by now Mimi was in at least San Francisco . She'd call once a month. Or else it would be killer on their phone bills. Yes, she'd call once a month.

--

"What's the matter Ken, did you friends have to go?" Oh wonderful. Only Sam was home.

"Yeah. They had to go somewhere." Ken rushed past him and into their shared room. The beeper that Kari held up to him looked exactly like the one that came out of the computer a few months back. He held it up to inspect it but he felt it take out of his hands and then the smack.

"Sam?!"

"Ken, I thought I told you not to touch my things." Ken didn't pay attention to anything his brother was saying after that. Who said that it was Sam's anyway? They share that computer. Ken watch through tearful eyes as his brother put the beeper back into the drawer label Sam. When his brother left the room, Ken got up and just took the beeper again.

"I wish Sam would just disappear!"

--


	2. A Viral File

AN: Sorry that took so long. This has been scraped and restarted over seven times so it should move a bit faster from here on out. Once again I'm messing with Ken's timeline a little and knowledge of what happens in the Brave Tamer, Tag Tamers, and other games would be helpful. Honestly the anime could have explained that a little better and so much of the season would have made more sense. I also want to westernize their parents's names, but haven't been to find them. Any suggestions? Anime timeline starts at the very end of this chapter, early next chapter.

---

Drawn and Fragmented

Chapter Two: A Viral File

---

"Ugh, Wormmon I don't feel so good..." Ken was back in Primary Village with Ryo and Tai, as well as the digimon Agumon and Veemon. So far everything had seemed like a dream to him. It seemed like just yesterday his brother had died and ten he gets pulled into this weird world. Wormon was his partner and told him that he was a chosen child, like T.K. and Kari, whom he hoped he would have seen there. They left him as much as Sam did.

"Oh Ken, lay down for now. Ryo'll bring you back home as soon as he and Tai are done talking." Wormmon kept fretting over him, especially after he got so sick from their fight with Milleniummon. Veemon moaned and started crying into Agumon's shoulder.

"What's wrong with him?" The digimon glanced at each other and Agumon started to explain.

"Ken you notice that there's a lot of digimon around? Well some of us were born with a partner, like you and Wormmon and me and Tai. There are a couple of others too, and Veemon here knows he has a partner..." The blue digimon wailed a little louder and blew his nose.

"But he's still not here! I thought Ryo was gunna be my friend!" Ken's neck still ached from whatever hit him but all he really wanted was for Veemon's whining to stop. Agumon was super cool though.

"Ah but didn't you work with Ryo too? Wormmon asked Agumon, not noticing the shocked look on Veemon's face.

"Well yeah but it wasn't too good. The only reason it work at all was because Tai was in danger and he needed me. Veemon really it was all!"

"When am I going to get my partner?!" Ken nudged Wormmon and asked him is all digimon were like that.

"No Ken all digimon are different like people. Some get along and some don't. You're my partner so we're supposed to make each other stronger." Wormmon fussed a little more with the pillows he'd found.

"Agumon has a very deep bond with Tai and can do most anything to make sure he stays safe. Veemon is still looking for his partner and he's not taking it too well." The rest of whatever Wormmon was going to say was drowned out.

"Tai, look, I don't care." Ryo and Tai were heading back to them a little frustrated each. Tai ran his hand threw his hair and sighed, looking comically like Agumon did just a few minutes before.

"All I'm saying is if you could just tell our parents we're okay! Just a little phone call or something'll do. Besides you we've only been able to talk to Ken and Willis and they're too young to make serious phone call like that."

"Then you'll have to wait a little longer! C'mon Ken I'm going to take you home and make sure your better." Ryo was incredibly shaken, more than Ken was. This was his second fight with Milleniummon and he was still essentially, all by himself.

"Oh fine! I bet Izzy'll figure out why we can't leave with you guys. Feel better Ken." Ryo used his Digivice to open the portal from Gennai's house back to Ken's room.

---

Joe and Kari kept a look out for any wild Digimon trying to make a mess of their work site but it was a remote area and clear of any real hazards. No matter what Ryo had helped fix the past few times and how they saved the Digital World it was still very messed up. It had been ripped apart and into quarters so much that there were some rifts that still weren't closing. That was part of their job- to fix it all. Most digimon avoided those areas, since there was literally nothing to fall out of and it became a one way death trap.

Kari and a bunch of Numemon (they had a complete adoration of her) were pushing boulders and some metal pipes left over from Machinedramon's city and the sewers to the edge of the land. Their digivices would make it all come together and form a real land again. It was tough to fill in all of the rifts with the digital world since it was always growing and changing. Sometimes before they had a chance to fix it, some of the connecting places became a desert and the other half was a forest making it hard to really place together.

"Hey Gatomon why don't you and Kari take a break? You've been over working yourselves too much. Not like this one here." Gommamon was using that 'oh I don't have hands!' excuse to get out of work again. He offered "advice" from the sidelines though.

"Aren't you tired too Joe?"

"Nah, but I think it'll be fun to watch this." Apparently Gatomon had enough of Gommamon's laziness and was now supervising him. Kari took out her terminal messenger and typed a message into it. A small red light lit and bleeped negatively, until she put it down.

"The connections are down again...I haven't heard from Tai for a while. Any luck on yours?"

"Nope. Last I heard Tai, Mimi, Izzy, and Matt were playing some card game with Ryo and a few others."

"Other people?!" Joe looked down at Kari, being one of the tallest of the Digidestend and wondered if she would get any bigger. Sure they had grown some since they first came here and 'fixed' their little problem, but since then they'd stayed pretty much the same. Or at least they thought they did. The Digiworld was such a big place with so many pieces just flying around that sometimes it would be weeks or months before they saw each other and the internet connection would go down sometimes, depending on where you were. It was like the time Tai left all over again. Part of the reason they kept staying in pairs was so that somebody will always be with you.

Bad things happened when you were alone in some parts of the Digiworld. Like where the barriers and other worlds started to phase in.

"Relax not like us. Izzy doesn't even think that they're real and just make believe. Willis is there too so Izzy's got someone to talk to. It's Sora and T.K. I'm worried about. Haven't heard from them in ages." Sora and T.K. had taken a round at finding where the Dark Ocean was hiding. Not everybody was able to see it, like Tai and Mimi, so only a few could go at a time for there. He and Kari had just finished looking for it in the lower quarter but that didn't mean that the whole place was clear.

Kari drank some of the river water and passed him the cup they had. Veggiemon's diner had been kind enough to let them borrow a couple of useful things. There were still pieces of random technology floating around as if it made sense.

"...Hey Kari, do you ever regret getting stuck here again?"

"Not even a little. I mean we all agreed that we wanted to come back at some point and I miss my family and everything, but this is right, you know. It was only for a couple of months but the time without Gatomon just seemed so empty and lonely like I was losing a best friend. Plus...now we can all be together again!" Joe looked through the trees over head at the blue sky and realized that Kari was very right.

Mimi would be across the world, and most of them would be High Schoolers going crazy over tests and applications for their future. Here life wasn't exactly sedate but there was something very casual about it. Strange digimon often come to them with problems that they feel obligated to solve and none of them ever really said no.

Getting used to normal life was difficult. They'd spent months of times wandering around and living with these monsters that people were the strange looking ones. Not to mention what had been months to them were only a few minutes to other people.

"Joe do you want me to cut your hair soon? It's growing past your collar." Joe ran his hand through it and realized it was getting pretty long. His dad would call him some long haired hippie but...dad wasn't exactly there, was he?

"Nah, but thanks. I think I'm going to try for a different look. Hey Gommamon, don't feed your fish to Gatomon as a bribe!" Somehow Joe felt like something was going to happen. He'd just made his first radical decision against what his father really wanted- he'd be in trouble for it soon enough.

---

Matt sat at the edge of the window with an old guitar he'd found in a van somewhere along the edge of the desert they'd fought Etamon in (he was trying to pretend that it wasn't one of the monkey's), watching the others fret around. They were down to the last few rounds of the tournament with only him and Tai to go since Ryo had beaten the other three down already. He couldn't bring himself to really worry about the game since they didn't even know what it was for. They had all just gotten a rare e-mail saying that they had been invited and that they should all come. Gabumon was trying to work the harmonica around his muzzle, providing some back up to the strings.

"Hey why aren't you so worried ?" Agumon was sitting over with Tai trying to figure out all the possible card maneuvers he could do and soundly beat Ryo. They had an odd sort of friendship ever since they met about a year ago. It didn't have the rocky start that his and Tai's had but there was defiantly a strain of something there, like they could never completely agree on anything.

"What's the worry for Gabumon? It's not like something major is going on around here."

"Unless your with Izzy you mean." It wasn't exactly major, but Izzy was speaking a mile a minute, boring the two around him. Willis normally liked to talk to him but being drilled over the same questions and how he got here was obviously getting to the kid. If T.K. or Kari were here he'd at least have someone his own age to play with. Or Ken, who was talking to Ryo through some sort of real time connection.

Matt wasn't sure how Izzy wasn't salivating over that or how Gennai got him to let it go.

"Say..uh, Mimi..." Like the rest of them, Izzy had grown up and shot an inch or two above Mimi, something that took getting used to. He stumbled over his words.

"You weren't really serious when you asked Ryo out...right?" Mimi looked uncaring and brushed her bangs, looking out of the window.

"Hmm, maybe. He's pretty cute and a real take charge kind of guy and very good humored to. What girl wouldn't try to snag a date from him." Matt smiled and started plucking the strings to some sort of showdown music he'd heard from western movies. Watching Izzy and Mimi dance around each other was worth paying for.

She'd been making subtle hints that the genius never picked up on while Izzy had all but put a pineapple sticker on her. There was a bet going around over who would say something first and confess instead of just instigating.

Or maybe they _had_ said something. Izzy's arm was getting a little cozy around her shoulders and she looked just to used to keeping herself between Izzy and his laptop. It was adorable watching them- not that he would ever admit it, ever. Just sort of like puppies.

"C'mon we lost already so lets enjoy some of the city together. Hey, with me not with your computer!"

"But Mimi if I just figure out which cards Ryo might use I can help Tai-"

"Tai! Tell Izzy to leave this stupid card game alone." Tai roared while grabbing his head and rolling on the floor.

"Argh! Why can't we just do this the old fashioned way?!" Palmon and Tentomon snickered and help Tai back up.

"Because this is supposed to be a friendly card game. Pixiemon even came back for this one and we don't want to get on his bad side again." Why _were_ they here? If those other tamers were just fakes like Izzy said there should be no need for any of the digidestend to be involved with this. Then again, Gennai had always been odd when doing things with Ryo, like there was some sort of a difference between him and the rest of them.

Gabumon waved his paw over Matt's face.

"Matt, we've got to go play the last rounds." Matt sighed and put the guitar down. Before he shut the lights off he heard one of the strings break.

He hoped that wasn't a sign of something.

---

Ken was watching the end of the card tournament from his bed, the one without a loft on it. That had been gone since Sam died.

"Oh Ken, please get better we can't loose you too." When did his mom come in? She looked very sad.

"Ken stop the game honey." She took the mouse out of his hand and turned off the computer screen making the room seem extra dark. Ken saw the bright after images from the screen and only started realizing how much his eyes were burning. He was _still_ sick from the Milleniumon battle. Ryo would be so disappointed and Sam would have been right.

"B-but mom I have to help Ryo…" The game had ended well mostly because he kept coming up with ideas for Ryo's cards until they lied to him. Once Ryo found out the truth he stopped addressing the computer and looked like he was going crazy. Then he just disappeared.

Ken had to help find him! Tai was the only other one helping but even he was starting to give up.

"Son no!" He felt his dad slap his hand away and push him into bed.

"You need to rest now and think of your mother. We've already lost one of our boys, we don't want to loose another one Ken. I promise you can play your game as much as you want once you get better. We'll even invite those friends of yours over." He was mad. Later on he'd realize a better term would be 'furious' but for now he was just mad.

Kari had been gone for almost two years now, along with T.K. and they were just noticing that he didn't have any friends! They were supposed to be his friends but they left and never came back. He went to the Digiworld and came back, why couldn't they?! It was all so much easier after Sam went away because Ken went to a hard school and it took his mind off of everything. But now even his school work was too easy and he still had to find Ryo.

And just where was Wormmon?! Was he still hiding underneath he bed?

Even though he'd seen his mother shut it off the computer turned back on but it wasn't a normal screen. It looked like something from the Digital World. Maybe it was Ryo or somebody trying to talk to him!

"Ken don't go in there it's not safe!" Wormmon had scurried out of the safety of his bed and jumped between himself and the computer. Ken was ready to go with his terminal and digivice in hand, even though the pajamas would be a problem.

"Oh so your finally coming out!"

"Don't be so angry I'm just trying to help you…"

"Well, well then help me by getting to the digital world!" Wormmon tried to stop him again but Ken kicked his friend in the stomach and opened the portal anyway, even though his body felt so heavy and knew he shouldn't have hurt his friend like that.

The world dissolved around him and someone was talking to him but he couldn't really remember any of the words. He felt scared for the first time in a long while.

"Wormmon? I'm sorry, I'm sorry stop with the joke!" The first thing he noticed was a fog all around. Even besides that everything was grey and…a beach?

"Wormmon?" His neck started hurting again but only in that one spot. Maybe. Maybe if he put the digivice in the water like the voice was telling him to it would go away. And then he could find Ryo.

Out of nowhere his terminal started beeping, showing that he had two hundred and four missed messages, mostly from Kari and T.K. and a few other names listed. Tai's appeared a few times as well. That anger he felt before was back and the pain went away a little bit more. They were all playing a joke on him?

"WHY DID YOU ALL LEAVE ME!" The voice was right. Ken put his digivice into the dark water and watched it change shape and color. The voice was gone.

"I can do whatever I want now." Before leaving (he realized his new digivice could open the gate whenever he wanted) he took out his terminal and chuck it a far as he could through into the water. Ryo was the only one that really cared about him- made sure he was okay even when he wanted to go home and got scared. He was going back to the Digiworld and he was going to find his friend and no one was going to tell him otherwise.

But first he needed to get stronger.

---

"T.K. let's go a little lower!" They were flying on the backs of Birddmon over one of the worst parts of the dig world. According to what some of their friends had said behind the wall of fire in this area was where the Dark Masters came from. It only too one good look to realize that it was an area nearly wide open to the Dark Ocean. You could even see all of the colors start to fade as they went deeper in.

But even being so close to the evil presence Sora felt like the was the happiest person in the world. She'd outgrown her helmet but kept her hair cropped short and close to her face. No stupid skirts or formal wear either, just a sweater that matched her (feathers, occasionally). Flying way above the Digiworld was complete freedom and she wasn't going to give it up any time soon.

She and Mimi had talked about in when they first got here. None of the digidestend were really upset with the condition of them being brought back, but they were really seeking it out. As if just before life collapsed in front of them they were all wisked away again. Maybe it was their fault or not, but both of them were very quiet about the matter.

"We could head back now Sora." Even if T.K. had shot up in height he was still a little kid at heart. They all wanted to get this influence out of the Digiworld but some of them couldn't see it. Mimi, Tai, and Izzy thought they were all crazy for a while until they proved it. It was their turn to find where it was creeping in.

"I'll be fine really. It's not going to take over me again so don't worry about me and lets figure out what's going on here." One of the downsides of being in this area was that communication was impossible. And it had been spreading through the entire quadrant. It was a quick fly through before they noticed the color and light starting to come back.

"It's going away. The Dark Ocean doesn't just stay in one spot…" It was like it was being focused in one area.

"I don't know it's never done anything like this before." They lurched a bit and started falling from the sky.

"Sora I don't know what's going on!" Biyomon was trying to get them all to the ground safety after dedigivolving, Patamon flapping his wings to no use. The group landed with a thump in a lush forest .

"What was that about?" T.K. held Patamon in his arms while Sora comforted Biyomon.

"It's not her fault! Can't you guys tell? There is something weird here." Patamon was right about that. The Dark Ocean wasn't in sight anywhere but that same oppressive feeling was around them making them feel so much weaker than normal.

"Ugh they're right. I can barely stay like this." T.K. held up his hand, which was starting to pulse outward. Sora bit her lip and thought of any of their friends who might be in the area. This was getting very serious. Had the Dark Ocean figured out a way to weaken them already?

"What's that?!" Just outside of the brush and trees there was a dark tower.

"We've got to get out of here now and tell the others." They'd never had something like this before. Not even Devimon's control was this foreword and obstructive.

---

"Ryo are you sure you don't want to go back to your own world? All of your friends are there." He wasn't going to cry. He just finally had enough of all of it.

His friends screwed him over every time and he saw what Ken would become. And all of it was because of the digimon getting ready to hatch in his arms.

But there was an innocent one there too.

"It's for the best." The other world would be easier- no one would know him. Maybe he'd make some friends that would use him just to finish off the monster they couldn't beat.

But at the same time it only made sense why _he _kept getting involved with Milleniumon.

"ENIAC, I want to leave and make sure he never messes with this world again. Maybe then the real digidestend can keep things right." Real digidestend. Not some pathetic guy who couldn't even figure out who his partner digimon was. They all came together to beat whoever stood in their way. Hell, they nearly died for their digimon's life. He could barely managed to work a kid who wanted nothing _but _a friend. Maybe that was why everything went to shit after he touched it.

"That will not solve anything Ryo. The roots of his evil are still in this world. If you're sure you don't want too…" The roots were what?

"Huh?"

"You may leave but all the damage has been done already. The Dark Ocean is still strong and that evil is still inside of your friend Ken. Even without Milleniumon there are still dangers in the digital world, some with the ability to come back."

On the screen behind him he saw various parts of the digital world- some of them were wrecked, while the digidestend were heading to Gennai's house. Probably wondering how to save the world this time. A whole section suddenly blacked out too, the damaged quarter with the dark spires. Ken had already started.

"I can't help them…but I won't let it get worse. Good-bye."

---

"DAVIS YOU CAN DO IT!" Yuuko Kamiya knew the soccer drills for this team about as well as the captain did, what with this being her sixth year as a fan and watcher. She knew that some of the parents were slightly creeped out that a random parent would cheer for a child that wans't her own, especially when both of hers were no where to be seen.

Davis gave her a wave after scoring another goal- he'd really grown these past few years but stayed remarkably earnest. He was one of the few people that still asked where Tai and Kari were, mostly because they seemed to be his closets friends for a while. But still, there was something different about him.

Like, how her kids were different.

"Did you see me Mrs. Kamiya?!"

"Yes I did, you were great." His parents were too busy to come to most of his games and it was a shame that someone wasn't there to cheer for him. Sooner or later they'd look back and see what they were missing.

"Hmm, how about you come over sometime this weekend and we'll go get some noodle, okay?" It was… overstepping sometimes and maybe she did miss her kids more than she would ever admit to anybody (they'd ask where they were) but Davis always seem to take it on the surface. Like Tai.

"See you Saturday then!" He ran off, tripping over his untied shoe laces, and face planted on the grass and assured everybody that he was alright. Yuuko stayed around for a while afterwards, promising to make some of her organic brownies for the next fundraiser, just staring out at the water.

Loosing their children had been rough for all of them. They'd formed something of a mom's club, even joined by Sotoe Tachikawa when she came back to the country to visit her family. They had left for New York without Mimi knowing that she would come back when she could. They couldn't exactly put their lives on hold. She and Toshiko had lunches together for years now, not very surprising with how close Tai and Sora were. Nancy joined them later as well as Yoshie. Nancy took it easy. Hiroaki and she were still separated but they got along easy enough when it came to the kids. He and Haruhiko Takenouchi were actually working on a way to get into the Digiworld to get their kids back. Jim even joined them occasionally, making him the butt of their jokes. A young man surrounded by a bunch of older women- it screamed something funny. But his and Joe's dad was angry that his son's apparent rebellion. Like being dragged into another world was Joe's choice.

A few other questions, here and there, were the only reminder that they even had children. Maybe that was something to do with the digital world too?

'_Come to think of it, there are other people that remember out children.'_ It was strange how many people seemed to accept that eight children suddenly vanished and no police were called. Satoe said that for a few months a girl named Yolie kept calling until she finally gave up.

Her cell phone rang. Yuuko answered it but the line was disconnected before she could and there was no return number available. She liked to think that maybe her kids were trying to call her. And sometimes she wished they wouldn't.

If they weren't able to leave or call, or even need to call their mother, what kind of trouble would they be in? Communication to the Digiworld was possible until they left. It just made her worry more, if that was possible after watching them fight in the sky that night.

'_They'll be back.' _

---

"Morning Cody." Yolie was rushing around the store, trying to get everything put away and get to school at the same time.

"I'll just be taking a juice this morning- my mom packed my lunch again." She liked hanging out with Cody- finally someone younger then her! Plus he was always needing help in fixing the computer in his apartment a few floor up from her. How they managed to get it to break some many times she'd never get but he was nice enough. And very calm, something that her family wasn't.

"Ah done! Crap, we're going to be late!" She grabbed his hand and pulled them out of the door, ignoring his scream of "I didn't pay yet!"

It was a brand new year and nothing was going to go wrong!

Umpf.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" Cody sighed and started brushing himself off. Yolie was nice but she had a violent temper when needed. It looked like the guy she ran into was the same.

"Well maybe it you weren't running around like a crazy loon YOU wouldn't have run into me!" Before Yolie could say anything else Cody cut in and stood before the older boy.

"My friend is really sorry about that."

"Wha- no I'm not!" The two were glaring at each other with less than an inch between the two of them.

"HEY DAVIS C'MON WE'VE GOT HOMEROOM TOGETHER" One of the soccer players called out from the hallway, abruptly changing the guy's mood. Where there was rage was now a big smile.

"I'm coming!"

Yolie blinked at the conversation being dropped so abruptly.

"Weird kid."

"Don't worry about it Yolie, we'll probably never run into him again."

"Meh, I guess your right. Oh! Did you hear? It was snowing in Tokyo last night! It's all gone now but there were defiantly flurries."

---

"Todgemon, we're here." A lizard like digimon with monkey hands turned around and saw Gastromon and Usamon running towards him. It was Kari and T.K. just like he was Tai, but they still went by their digimon names when like this.

"You guys haven't been able to turn back yet either?" It had taken a while after they first came back to get into their human form. It was sort of odd- they really weren't fully human anymore just digimon that could look human if they shifted and tried hard enough. They hadn't had a problem keeping that form until all these dark towers appeared. Agumon and the others were slightly better off even if they couldn't digivolve in the area. It's like they were trapped and weak. Not a good thing.

Usamon bounced over and Patamon following not far behind.

"Nope but Gennai said that you needed some help here?" The entire quarter was a mess and T.K. and Kari took it very personally. Their crests were given up to save the place and now it was being trashed around again.

"The Digieggs that Ryo and Ken put back together are all around here. I'm wondering if they can help with solve this problem. It'd just be easy if we weren't stuck as rookie digimon…."

There was a crashing of trees behind them, and Gastromon moved first.

"Speed Slick!" and spit out some slime in front of her, making the digimon running towards them slip and miss hitting them.

"Guy's I think this is the one that's been causing all the trouble." Todgemon and Agumon nodded at each other before bringing them into a secluded cave.

"He's been calling himself the Digimon Emperor. And he's human."


End file.
